# Raffaele Contigiani

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**Raffaele Contigiani** (1920–2008) was an Italian [architect](/source/Architect) and painter. He qualified as an architect in 1947 and designed [pavilions](/source/Pavilion_(exhibition)) for the Italian Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a consultant for the Italian television broadcaster [RAI](/source/RAI) in the 1960s but is best known for his design for [Hotel du Lac](/source/Hotel_du_Lac,_Tunis) (1970–1973) in [Tunis](/source/Tunis) which he designed in the [brutalist style](/source/Brutalist_architecture).

## Early life

Contigiani was born in [Turin](/source/Turin) in 1920. He served in the military during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) and was a prisoner of war in Germany.[1]

## Career

Contigiani qualified as an architect from the Faculty of Architecture at Rome in 1947. He designed buildings in Italy, Eastern Europe, and in North Africa. Among these were [pavilions](/source/Pavilion_(exhibition)) for the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Libya and Tunisia in the 1950s[1] and three at the Zagreb trade fair in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[2]

He was a consultant to the Italian television broadcaster RAI[1] and with [Mario de Renzi](/source/Mario_de_Renzi) and [Renato Avolio de Martino](/source/Renato_Avolio_de_Martino) designed the [RAI Auditorium](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditorium_Rai_di_Napoli) in Naples which was built between 1958 and 1963.[3]

Among his notable works is the Hotel du Lac in Tunis (1970–1974) which he designed in a brutalist style[1] and has been seen as symbolic of the modernisation of Tunisia in the 1970s.[4] Its distinctive shape has been described as the inspiration for the [sandcrawler](/source/Sandcrawler) vehicle of the *Star Wars* films, as significant parts of the first trilogy were filmed in the country.[5] However, British director and set designer [Roger Christian](/source/Roger_Christian_(filmmaker)) has said that the sandcrawler was designed by [Ralph McQuarrie](/source/Ralph_McQuarrie) before *Star Wars* director [George Lucas](/source/George_Lucas) visited Tunisia.[5] As of April 2019, the hotel is unoccupied and being considered for demolition.[5]

Contigiani also painted scenes from prisoner of war camps in Germany and published a number of collections of his paintings.[6]

## Death

Contigiani died in 2008.[1]

## Selected publications

- *Ecologia e Urbanistica*. Edizioni Mediterranee, Rome, 1978. (Paintings)
- *Invito Alla Bici*. Edizioni Mediterranee, Rome, 1981. (Paintings)

## References

1. [Raffaele Contigiani.](https://www.arab-architecture.org/db/architect/raffaele-contigiani) Arab Center for Architecture. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

1. Zagreb Fair in the World of Conflicts - Italian pavilions in Zagreb before and after the Second World War. Croatian Scientific Bibliography. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

1. ["Il recupero dell’ Auditorium RAI di Napoli"](https://www.academia.edu/18093435/_Il_Recupero_dellauditorium_Rai_di_Napoli_in_LArchitetto_italiano_II_16_2006_pp._108-111), Alessandro Pergoli Campanelli, *L'Architetto Italiano*, II, 16, 2006, pp. 108-111.

1. [The upside down hotel said to have inspired Star Wars faces demolition.](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/hotel-du-lac-tunis/index.html) Kieron Monks, CNN, 25 March 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

1. [The mystery of Star Wars and Tunisia's rundown Brutalist hotel.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47819137) Neil Arun, BBC News, 10 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

1. Moscatelli, Giuseppe. (2008). [*"Moschino"*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9ewAEWtj1uIC&pg=PA262) (in Italian). Halley. pp. 262–263. ISBN 978-88-7589-333-0.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Raffaele Contigiani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffaele_Contigiani) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffaele_Contigiani?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.